Encouragement from Gina Carano

pic.twitter.com/GiYHE6SU5x

— Gina Carano 🕯 (@ginacarano) February 3, 2023

Gina Carano posted this video on her Twitter and it's kind of what I was getting at in my Phoenix rising out of the ashes post - overcoming discouragement. Her video talks about service. I'm a big fan of service. Everything has it's time and place and there is no greater service that what we do within the walls of our own home. Families break down, I get it but working to make this world a better place for the next generation is a worthy quest.

However, that too can be a double edged sword. It's really easy to get overwhelmed when you look at all the insane things going on around us. That's why it's sometimes important to pull back and do our own thing. March to the beat of a different drummer. The mob has always been mad and social media is plagued by the mob. That means it's full of madness.

There is one principle in that video I agree with. There's a saying that says I used to feel sorry for myself because I had no shoes until I met someone with no feet. It helps put our problems into perspective. It reminds me of the poem Desiderata. "Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence."

"Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself... the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism."

"And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."

When I was young my father used to take me to volunteer at a seniors camp outside of Squamish called Paradise Valley. It was owned by the North Vancouver school district and the United Church would rent it to hold a seniors camp in the summer. It taught me at an early age the joy of service. We had a blast. There was a core group of volunteers that would come together each year to pull off another camp. When my father got older he had Alzheimer's. We weren't really sure if it was Alzheimer's or Parkinson's but he lost his ability to speak.

He had spent his whole life in the service of others and I thought it was be a great idea to bring the band back and host a camp for him there. So we did. It was great to give my kids the same opportunity I had growing up. One of the ladies that had served there for many years had experienced some set backs in her life. Her heart was broken when her husband left her for another woman and her daughter died leaving her to raise her grand daughter on her own.

Notwithstanding those set backs she sang the song What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong at the reunion. Instantly my father's eyes lit up because he recognized the music. He was also very aware of her struggles over the years. To hear her sing that song was somewhat profound. It moved me. She found a purpose and she ran with it. I admire and respect her. Peace.